I was browsing through an (old) book about piano technique the other day. The book, written by a virtuoso piano player in about 1902, pointed out that practice involves not just the body, but the brain, and that effective practice is a lot of work. Continue reading
Tag Archives: midlife
Why Did You Stop?
Talking with friends over the past few weeks about this blog and its goals, an interesting question has emerged. Why did you stop? Why did music fall out of your life for so long?
There are no easy answers – and everyone’s story is different. But in conversations, we’ve come up with a few possible answers. Continue reading
Filed under Returning to Music
Rediscovering Music in Midlife
The studies are clear. Studying music early in your life can improve academic performance and help kids build confidence.
When we hit our teens, many of us put music aside to pursue our academic careers, start families, and get on with life. If you become a parent, the growth and development of your kids takes precedence — and we sacrifice a lot of time and energy to make sure our kids get a healthy start in life.
For me, becoming an “empty nester” re-awakened old desires: to learn to play the piano, an instrument that I’ve always enjoyed but had never successfully mastered beyond picking out a few notes with one hand. I had played the violin through public school and into college — at one point had considered music as a career — but as the years slipped by, active playing had fallen out of my life. Continue reading
Filed under Personal Journey, Returning to Music
Midlife Musicians 